Association member Ken Eklund runs the website from his home on Fuller Avenue, where he has lived since 1986 as a freelance writer for computer game companies and multimedia firms.

"It's a fairly simple and straightforward website," he said. "It's easy to navigate and easy to add to."

Association President Alison England, who contributed to the website's content, said, "It helps keep people up-to-date by answering basic questions about the organization. It gives people a sense of the neighborhood."

England admitted that she doesn't have much experience with the Internet, so she's glad Eklund created the website.

"He volunteered," she said. "I couldn't do it in a million years, and I said to him, 'You're good at it, so go for it.' "

Eklund went to great lengths to make the website as informative and user-friendly as possible. "I looked at the primary audience and thought about what they would like most and how to make the website accessible to users who have varying degrees of web savvy," Eklund said.

He hopes the site becomes a resource for North Willow Glen residents, enabling them to learn more about the area and feel a greater sense of community.

It seems that he's meeting that goal already. Since it "went live" on Jan. 2, Eklund has received plenty of positive feedback.

"People love it," he said.

The site will constantly develop as it keeps up with the many changes in the neighborhood, he explained. "It's easy to make changes to the website, but there's so many things to add."

One of his goals is to post the association's quarterly newsletter on the website and develop an online newsletter archive. He also wants to make it possible for visitors to email the webmaster or association officers via the site, and he plans to replace the stock historical photos on the site with photos of the area provided by residents.

Eklund anticipates updating the content at least twice a week, admitting that it can be a high-maintenance project. But he would like to see the website reach its full potential before he turns it over to someone else to manage.

"We really don't have a budget," he said. "The association doesn't collect dues yet, so we need to rely on donated materials and volunteers. I'm perfectly happy to do it, but I'll gladly hand it over to someone else to maintain it."

One neighborhood issue that Eklund continues to monitor is the progress of Hummingbird Park, located at Bird and Fisk avenues, which had its groundbreaking in August and is scheduled to open in the spring. He's also posting information about the exterior grants component of the city's Strong Neighborhoods Initiative (SNI) home improvement program, which offers up to $25,000 per residence for houses needing work on roofs, porches, stairs, fencing, gutters and even landscaping.

Eklund's website also posts updates on the neighborhood's progress in planning a Fourth of July block party on Delmas Avenue. Eklund has posted a picture of association members meeting with a representative from Community Foundation Silicon Valley, to which the association has applied for a grant to shut off Delmas Avenue for a neighborhood-wide block party. The block party will "give residents from all over North Willow Glen a chance to meet, socialize, find common ground and—oh yeah—see the city's July Fourth fireworks from an excellent vantage point," the website says.

The neighborhood association was created in 2000 when regular attendees at the SNI meetings for the Greater Gardner neighborhood weren't addressing certain issues pertinent to northern Willow Glen.

The new neighborhood association then discussed plans to create a website, Eklund said, but not much came about initially.

"So I stepped up to the plate and created it," Eklund said. "Most of the things that get done in the association are from people taking it upon themselves to volunteer or donate their time and resources."

For more information on the North Willow Glen Neighborhood Association, 136 W. Alma Ave., call 408.297.9135 or visit http://www.writerguy.com/nwgna/index.htm.

The neighborhood association holds its meetings the last Tuesday of the month at the Word of Faith Church, 873 Delmas Ave., at 7 p.m.